Othello
By
William Shakespeare
Act III:
Scene 3

IAGO.I do not like the office;But, sith I am enter'd in this cause so far, — Prick'd to it by foolish honesty and love, — I will go on. I lay with Cassio lately;And, being troubled with a raging tooth,I could not sleep.There are a kind of men so loose of soul,That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs:One of this kind is Cassio:In sleep I heard him say, "Sweet Desdemona,Let us be wary, let us hide our loves";And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand,Cry, "O sweet creature!" and then kiss me hard,As if he pluck'd up kisses by the roots,That grew upon my lips: then laid his legOver my thigh, and sigh'd and kiss'd; and thenCried, "Cursed fate that gave thee to the Moor!"

OTHELLO.O monstrous! monstrous!

IAGO.Nay, this was but his dream.

OTHELLO.But this denoted a foregone conclusion:'Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream.

IAGO.And this may help to thicken other proofsThat do demonstrate thinly.

OTHELLO.I'll tear her all to pieces.

IAGO.Nay, but be wise: yet we see nothing done;She may be honest yet. Tell me but this, — Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchiefSpotted with strawberries in your wife's hand?

OTHELLO.I gave her such a one; 'twas my first gift.

IAGO.I know not that: but such a handkerchief, — I am sure it was your wife's, — did I todaySee Cassio wipe his beard with.

OTHELLO.If it be that, —

IAGO.If it be that, or any that was hers,It speaks against her with the other proofs.

OTHELLO.Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic Sea,Whose icy current and compulsive courseNe'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due onTo the Propontic and the Hellespont;Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace,Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love,Till that a capable and wide revengeSwallow them up. — Now, by yond marble heaven,In the due reverence of a sacred vow [Kneels.]I here engage my words.